Little League World Series 2015: Thursday Scores, Bracket Results and Highlights

It was elimination day at the Little League World Series as a game apiece in the international and United States brackets, respectively, brings the tournament a step closer to finding out its final two teams. 

Two teams are to be sent home on Thursday in the double-elimination format that saw Venezuela, who lost an extra-innings heartbreaker to Japan yesterday, taking on Mexico on the international side while Texas met California in the United States bracket. 

Continue for the day's scores and highlights of all the action from Williamsport, Pennsylvania.

Winner	Score	Loser
Mexico	11-0	Venezuela
Texas	9-7	California

Mexico 11, Venezuela 0

Powered by a four-RBI day from Alberto Bustos, Mexico charged its way into the international championship of the Little League World Series with an 11-0 win over Venezuela on Thursday. 

Mexico needed just one of Bustos' big hits, whether it was his two-run double or home run, because pitcher Daniel Zaragoza was unstoppable on the mound. The lefty went 5.2 innings, just one batter shy of a complete game, allowing three hits while striking out six.

Despite its success at Williamsport, Venezuela has had trouble scoring, stranding 19 players on base in its first three games. The theme continued on Thursday as it stranded two in the first, its best chance to score on the day. 

Mexico had no such problems. In the bottom of the second with runners on second and third, Zaragoza launched a double to left field to score both runs. Zaragoza was later driven in by Andres Villa's two-out single. 

It was at it again in the third when Bustos drove in another two runs with a double to right-center. Ben Brigandi of the Williamsport Sun-Gazette reminisced on what could have been for Venezuela, who had a busy couple of days after an extra-innings loss to Japan:

The Mexico lead grew in that same inning when an infield single expanded its advantage to six.

Venezuela just could not find a way past Zaragoza, who experienced a pair of jams but was able to bear down brilliantly and get out of them with relative ease. The left-hander brought a mix of power pitching and slow, looping off-speed stuff to make sure Venezuela would not score on his watch.

Bustos continued to support Zaragoza, sending an opposite-field home run that just cleared the top of the wall to give Mexico an 8-0 lead in the top of the fifth. To put the exclamation point on the day, Raul Leon launched a three-run home run in the top of the sixth to complete Mexico's big day. 

Texas 9, California 7

A two-run home run from Caleb Low lifted Texas into the United States final in a dramatic 9-7 extra-innings victory over California on Thursday night. 

Entering the eighth inning down 7-6, a leadoff home run from starting pitcher Ben Gottfried set up Low's fantastic finish as the Little League captured the emotion and what looked like relief of the Texas team:

Texas would not have been able to get that far on Thursday night if it weren't for Zachary Mack, who led all batters with five RBI, including a grand slam, one of four Texas home runs on the night.

They somehow managed to out-duel California, who wasted no time to start mashing. Walker Lannom launched a three-run home run in the top of the first, its 13th long ball of the Little League World Series. 

Texas came right back, thanks to two hit batsmen that helped load the bases in the bottom of the first with no outs.

Up stepped Mack, who on a 3-2 pitch sent as high a home run you'll see hit in the Little League World Series into the Williamsport night, giving Texas a 4-3 lead.

ESPN's Baseball Tonight saw a competition within the semifinal matchup as the home runs were plentiful:

"

It's a HR derby in Williamsport! Zach Mack's grand slam gives Texas the 4-3 lead in the bottom of the 1st. #LLWS pic.twitter.com/IGFAzUKdsu

— Baseball Tonight (@BBTN) August 28, 2015"

California came back with an answer in the top of the third when Levi Mendez hit his third home run of the tournament to tie the game at four. After a hit batsman, Jacob Baptista went dead-center to give California its lead back.

A two-out, two-strike RBI single from none other than Mack brought Texas to back within in a run in the bottom of the fourth. 

Gottfried, Texas' pitcher who bore the brunt of California's offensive power, had some late-inning heroics in him, striking out five straight batters to keep his team's deficit at one.

Marco Gutierrez made Gottfried's work worth it, sending the first pitch he saw in the bottom of the fifth inning over the right field wall to tie the game. Texas went to work on Baptista, who had relieved Nate Nankil after the home run, loading the bases with two outs, but could not score.

Two very good offenses were stymied for the next two innings, as both teams were unable to convert a number of chances with runners on. But in the pressure situations it was cooler heads on the mound who prevailed as the game meandered into extra innings.

The offenses came back to life in the eighth. An RBI double from Baptista put California up one and looked to have put it in the U.S. final, but no one sent the memo to Gottfried, who hit a game-tying home run as the leadoff man in the bottom of the eighth before Low's shot sealed the win.

Texas will take on hometown Pennsylvania for the United States championship on Saturday at 3:30 p.m. ET.